A western Maryland grower of giant Christmas trees says he's sending refunds to the World Bank, the CIA and other Washington-area customers because heavy snow from Superstorm Sandy did so much damage to his crop.

Marshall Stacy ofPinetum Christmas Treesin Swanton said Monday he has refunded nearly 70 percent of his orders for trees that were destroyed or damaged by 28 inches of wet snow in late October.

Mitt Romney’s demographic troubles have, by this point, been well-rehearsed by practically every pundit across the political spectrum. However, even in his most troubled demographic (black voters, where Romney was trounced 94-6), the GOP nominee could probably comfort himself that at least – contrary to some polls – he didn’t get 0 percent.

But what if there are parts of the country where Romney not only got zero percent of the vote (a possibility in the case of vote totals so small that rounding renders them null), but actually got literally zero votes? For the nominee of a major party, that would be truly extraordinary – so extraordinary, in fact, that it would strain credulity.

And seeing as this highly unlikely turn of events happened not in one or two precincts, but in over 59 in Philadelphia, and 9 in Cleveland, that credulity can be safely said to be completely strained, if not broken. From thePhiladelphia Inquirer:

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has spoken with active duty military personnel in Afghanistan to thank them for their service.

The governor spoke via Google online chat Monday morning from the Maryland Statehouse with service members who are taking a speech and writing class withthe University of Maryland University College at Bagram Air Field.

Black Friday, which is traditionally one of the biggest shopping days of the year, may come with serious problems for Walmarts nationwide if a grassroots campaign calling for the store's workers to strike comes to fruition.

Making Change at Walmart, a campaign aimed at organizing and strengthening the work force the world's largest private employer, isorganizing events for Nov. 23 at Walmart stores nationwide to speak out about issueswith pay, worker intimidation and retaliation and scheduling issues.

The Red Cross is facing a strike by D.C.- and Baltimore-area blood drive workers, a move that would hamstring an organization already reeling from Superstorm Sandy.

Teamsters Local 311, which includes about 50 Red Cross drivers and supply clerks who provide blood drive support, sent the organization a notice of intent to strike beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 16. The strike can be avoided if the two sides reach a contract agreement before then.

"We feel like it's irresponsible," said Red Cross spokesman Anthony Tornetta. "Now is not the time to do something like this."

The report was commissioned by D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services in May as a result of a city inspector's report that found the 50-year-old boat, the John H. Glenn Jr., was obsolete. Although the report also said that the 71-foot boat's "firefighting capability is more than adequate," it noted that substantial repairs were needed in order to meet or exceed federal and industry standards.

When asked about the report, FEMS Deputy Fire Chief for Homeland Security John Donnelly on Friday noted the report's positive assessment of the boat's firefighting function.

In the midst of America’s fiscal crisis, economist Anirban Basu told members of Maryland’s Chamber of Commerce that it is imperative for the state to lower corporate income tax to create better opportunity to attract capital investment to offset the impact of decreased federal spending.

Speaking at the chamber’s business policy conference in Ellicott City on Friday, Basu said the Free State is three times more vulnerable to the impact of federal reductions than any other state. The number of Americans that work for the federal government is 2.1%, while 5.2% of Marylanders get a federal paycheck. With extensive cuts scheduled for the Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health, both staples in Maryland’s economy, Basu said Maryland is in for a “world of hurt.”

The array of solar panels all facing south give the appearance of a shimmering lake. And by late December, the 300,000 solar panels, each roughly the size of a 46-inch flat screen television near the Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown off Roxbury Road, are expected to generate a peak of 20 megawatts of power per hour.

The solar farm annually will produce enough electricity to power 4,000 to 5,000 single family homes, according to an estimate by an official at First Solar Inc., the company leasing the land from the state to run the plant.

The solar farm, which is spread over 160 acres, will be the largest in Maryland, and represents one more step toward the state’s goal of generating 20 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2022.

A group of campaigners linked to the Occupy Wall Street movement is buying-up distressed loans for pennies in the pound and cancelling them to "liberate debtors at random".

The Rolling Jubilee project is seeking donations to help it buy-up distressed debts, including student loans and outstanding medical bills, and then wipe the slate clean by writing them off.

Individuals or companies can buy distressed debt from lenders at knock-down prices if it the borrower is in default or behind with payments and are then free to do with it as they see fit, including cancelling it free of charge.

Starbucks' support ofsame-sex marriage in Washington statewas praised by a number of prominent rights activists. But the Seattle-based coffee chain's outspoken opponents seem determined to have the last word.

The Colorado Independent reportsthat officials from theNational Organization for Marriage(NOM) have vowed to make Starbucks (along with other companies that support same-sex marriage) pay a “price” in Middle Eastern countries that are hostile to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights. The statements were made during a Nov. 8 conference call, scheduled as a discussion of the 2012 elections which sawsweeping marriage equality victoriesin Maine, Maryland and Minnesota, as well as Starbucks' home state of Washington.

“So for example, in Qatar, in the Middle East, we’ve begun working to make sure that there’s some price to be paid for this," Brian Brown says in audio recording of the conference call, which can heard on the Independent's website. "These are not countries that look kindly on same-sex marriage. And this is where Starbucks wants to expand, as well as India. So we have done some of this; we’ve got to do a lot more.”

Reading the local newspapers over the weekend may have given you the impression that Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was the big winner of last week’s election.

Although his name never actually appeared on the ballot, that may not be far from the truth. O’Malley championed the three big initiatives on the Maryland ballot—legalization of same-sex marriages, the Maryland Dream Act, and a gambling expansion—and all three of them passed.

The Washington Examiner had an article headlined “O’Malley stock rises, McDonnell’s drops with election,” comparing how the rivals -- who both head their respective party’s governors associations -- fared last Tuesday. While the GOP lost big in Virginia, O’Malley’s liberal social agenda was approved by voters.

As of Saturday November 10, 2012, 15 States have petitioned the Obama Administration for withdrawal from the United States of America in order to create its own government.

States following this action include: Louisiana, Texas, Montana, North Dakota, Indiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon and New York. These States have requested that the Obama Administration grant a peaceful withdrawal from the United States.

OPEC, in its World Oil Report, said there's an overall sense that developing shale oil and natural gas could start to redefine the global energy mix. In the United States, the cartel said shale natural gas production alone grew by more than 60 percent from 2010 to 2012. For shale oil, supplies in the United States have already passed the 1 million barrel-per-day mark. Though shale reserves may ultimately be a game changer, said OPEC, outside the United States, the sector is in its infancy.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries published its 300-page World Oil Outlook this week. The cartelsaidit was "evident that this resource (shale oil and gas) will contribute to the overall energy mix." The cartel found total shale natural gas production in the United States increased from 15 million cubic feet for day in 2012 to 25 billion cubic feet per day two years later. There is a clear potential for shale natural gas on the global energy stage, said OPEC, as clean natural gas starts to replace coal as a source of electricity and becomes a major feedstock in the petrochemicals industry.

Christmas comes early to Salisbury University this year, courtesy of the Salisbury Chorale. The ensemble presents its winter concert, featuring Rutter’s Magnificat and Holst’s Christmas Day, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 13, in Holloway Hall Auditorium. The chorale and chamber orchestra, conducted by Dr. William Folger, director of choral studies at SU, are comprised of students, faculty, staff and community members.More

A war memorial cross that once stood on a rocky hilltop in a national park before being deemed unconstitutional and ordered removed has been resurrected on Veterans Day in the stunningly stark Mojave desert site, capping a landmark case for veterans fighting similar battles on public lands.

Henry Sandoz, who cared for the original 1930s cross as part of a promise to a dying World War I veteran, rededicated a new, 7-foot steel cross on the same hilltop. The site is now in private hands as part of a land swap with the National Park Service that ended the longstanding legal dispute, which had become entangled in the thorny issues of patriotism and religion.

“Judges and lawyers may have played their roles, but it was the veterans who earned this memorial, and it is for them it rises once more,” said attorney Hiram Sasser of the Texas-based Liberty Institute, which represented veterans in the legal fight.

What the party really needs, much more than a better identity-politics pitch, is an economic message that would appeal across demographic lines — reaching both downscale white voters turned off by Romney’s Bain Capital background and upwardly mobile Latino voters who don’t relate to the current G.O.P. fixation on upper-bracket tax cuts.

As the American Enterprise Institute’s Henry Olsen writes, it should be possible for Republicans to oppose an overweening and intrusive state while still recognizing that “government can give average people a hand up to achieve the American Dream.” It should be possible for the party to reform and streamline government while also addressing middle-class anxieties about wages, health care, education and more.

Earthquake shaking in the eastern United States can travel much farther and cause damage over larger areas than previously thought.

U.S. Geological Survey scientists found that last year's magnitude-5.8 earthquake in Virginia triggered landslides at distances four times farther -- and over an area 20 times larger -- than previous research has shown.

"We used landslides as an example and direct physical evidence to see how far-reaching shaking from East Coast earthquakes could be," said Randall Jibson, USGS scientist and lead author of this study. "Not every earthquake will trigger landslides, but we can use landslide distributions to estimate characteristics of earthquake energy and how far regional ground shaking could occur."

Iranissued a bellicose warning to the U.S. over the weekend, after American officials disclosed last week that the Islamic republic had tried to shoot down a U.S. drone in international airspace near the Iranian coast on Nov. 1.

“Yes, we opened fire, and it was with warning shots. If they do it again, they can expect an even stronger response,” saidGen. Amir-Ali Hadjizadeh, adding that the drone entered Iranian airspace and “had to turn around because of the immediate reaction by fighters of the Revolutionary Guards.”

ThePentagondisclosed Thursday that two Iranian SU-25 “Frogfoot” fighter jets had fired multiple rounds at an unarmed, unmanned U.S. Predator drone that was flying in international airspace 16 nautical miles off the coast ofIran.

Within the span of about a week recently, Haris Tarin spoke at a Washington panel on how the next U.S. president can combat violent Islamic extremism, delivered a guest sermon for Eid in Alexandria, launched an ad campaign on District buses calling for religious tolerance, and hosted an election night party and discussion in Great Falls.

Tarin, the full-time Washington representative of theMuslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), seems to be everywhere at once. Yet he also walks a tightrope between American critics who see his group as a diplomatic front for radical Islamists and conservative fellow Muslims who fear it is going too far to accommodate American values, security needs or misperceptions about their faith.

These are high times in America for recreational marijuana users. On Tuesday night, two states – Colorado and Washington – passed historic measures to legalize using and selling small amounts of pot, effectively challenging the federal law that classifies the drug as an illegal narcotic.

In Colorado, adults 21 and older will now be able to legally buy and possess up to one ounce of cannabis and grow as many as six plants. In Washington, the measure authorized the state liquor control board to regulate and tax the drug.

Baltimore County Police originally reported a that man was assaulted with a hammer in a gang-related incident and taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, but the course of their investigation has revealed new details.

According to Corporal John Wachter, spokesperson for the Baltimore County Police Department, officers responded to calls of a fight Sunday afternoon at the North Point Flea Market.

Police now report that a man was hit with a "rubber mallet" in his upper body during the fight.

"He was taken to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries," said Wachter.

Our collective record of predicting what the economy will do next is dreadful. Twelve years ago, few worried about terrorism, many worried about Y2K, and the thought of zero percent interest rates was preposterous. Not a single person knows what the future holds, and so what I'm about to write isn't so much a prediction, but an observation of potential.

After five years of collapse and stagnation, we could be on the cusp of a new economic boom. Not like the mid-1980s or late 1990s, mind you. But the odds that the next five years will be markedly better than the last five years are good, and growing better by the day.

The new boom will be driven by three things: A rebound in housing construction, the rise in domestic energy production, and the end of consumer debt deleveraging.

Start with housing. From 2002 to 2007, a net average of 1.3 million American households were created every year. During that time, almost 2 million new homes were built annually. Today, it's the other way around. In the last year, 1.1 million new households were formed; but, just 700,000 new homes were built.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Want to see how quickly the look and business model of American public universities are changing? Visit a place like Indiana University. Five years ago, there were 87 undergraduates from Chinaon its idyllic campus in Bloomington. This year: 2,224.

New figures out Monday show international enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities grew nearly 6 percent last year, driven by a 23-percent increase fromChina, even as total enrollment was leveling out. But perhaps more revealing is where much of the growth is concentrated: big, public land-grant colleges, notably in the Midwest in an era of diminished state support.

Of the 25 campuses with the most international students, a dozen have increased international enrollment more than 40 percent in just five years, according to data collected by the Institute of International Education. All but one are public, and a striking number come from the Big Ten: Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, Ohio State, Minnesota and Illinois. Indiana’s international enrollment now surpasses 6,000, or about 15 percent of the student body.

I’ve thought a lot over the last few years about the axiom, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes” (often attributed, though not definitively, to Mark Twain). The question to me was whether the presidency of Barack Obama would “rhyme” with that of Jimmy Carter or Franklin Roosevelt. Given Tuesday’s election results, FDR is the more apt precedent.

The now-faded blue gingham dress Judy Garland wore in "The Wizard of Oz" has sold for $480,000.

Auction house Julien's Auctions says the pinafore fetched the highest price of any item during a two-day auction of Hollywood memorabilia that attracted bids from around the world. The auction ended Saturday in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Steve McQueen's racing jacket sold for $50,000, as did a purple skirt worn by Marilyn Monroe while filming "River of No Return" in Canada. Julie Andrews' "Sound of Music dress" brought $38,400.

Now that President Obama has been re-elected, analysts, consultants and dealmakers have turned from whether Dodd-Frank will be repealed to what it means for banks now that it's likely here to stay. The overwhelming conclusion: Thousands of small banks will soon disappear.

Emmett Daly, a Sandler O'Neill dealmaker who specializes in small banks, predicted at an industry conference put on by Mergermarket on Thursday that the number of banks in the U.S. would shrink to a few hundred. There are currently more than 7,000. Bill Egan, head of financial institutions investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, agreed, but said the weeding out process was likely to take more than a decade.

·On Nov. 2, Enforcement agents charged Jeremy K. Colston, 18, of Hebron, Md., with disposal of solid waste at an unapproved location, dumping on a state wildlife area and entering a state wildlife area after hours in connection with an incident in which 35 bags of trash, boxes and loose items were dumped at the Nanticoke Wildlife Area near Bethel. Colston pled guilty to the charges in Justice of the Peace Court 3 in Georgetown and was ordered to pay $765 in fines and court cost, as well as cleaning up the trash and providing a receipt as proof that the trash had been disposed of properly.

Citations issued by violation type included the following, with the number of charges in parentheses:

Wildlife Conservation: Possession of prohibited lead shot while hunting migratory waterfowl (3), and waterfowl hunting without required state stamp (2), New Castle and Kent counties; operating a motor vehicle off an established roadway in a state wildlife area (1), and damaging state property (1), New Castle County; hunting without a license (1), hunting migratory waterfowl without required federal stamp (1), hunting migratory waterfowl without a Harvest Information Program (H.I.P.) number (1), dog training in a prohibited area* (1), Kent County; disposal of solid waste at an unapproved location (1), dumping on a state wildlife area (1), and entering a state wildlife area after hours (1), Sussex County.

*Dog training in some state wildlife areas is prohibited for safety reasons when the area is open to hunting. Please check rules and regulations for each wildlife area as pertain to their use for outdoor recreation.

The DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Section reminds deer hunters who do their own butchering that processed deer carcasses are considered household waste and should be properly bagged and disposed of in their regular trash. Deer carcasses shouldnot be dumped along roadways.

Also, the Enforcement Section is sharing details below from a recent incident that illustrates last week’s winter hunting/boating safety tips: On Nov. 2, two duck hunters were rescued from a remote pond on the C&D Canal Wildlife Area after their small aluminum boat capsized. The pair made their way to shore, but became lost in the marsh. Delaware State Police airlifted them to Christiana Medical Center, where they were treated for hypothermia and released. Enforcement’s investigation indicated that the two hunters and their equipment considerably exceeded the weight capacity of their small vessel. The vessel’s owner was cited for negligent operation of a vessel, operation of an unregistered motor vessel, and hunting migratory waterfowl with lead shot.

Citizens are encouraged to report fish and wildlife and boating violations to the Delaware Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Section by calling 302-739-4580.

WILMINGTON – The Delaware Criminal Justice Council will hold the first of its four annual public hearings on Tuesday, November 13, at Canaan Baptist Church in New Castle. The purpose of these hearings is to give the public an opportunity to present its views on public safety and criminal justice issues to the Criminal Justice Council.

Canaan Baptist Church is located at 3011 New Castle Avenue in New Castle. The other three hearings will be held later this year in the City of Wilmington, Kent County, and Sussex County.

Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn, the chair of the Criminal Justice Council, began holding the Council’s public hearings in neighborhoods affected by crime rather than in traditional state government buildings when he took over as CJC chair.

The Criminal Justice Council is an independent council that is responsible for allocating federal criminal justice funds that come into Delaware and making recommendations for improvements in Delaware’s criminal justice system.

The world watched on Tuesday night as Rove desperately tried to deny the math showing President Obama won re-election. That's because he knows he'll have to answer to the millionaires and billionaires he took $300 million from, and to whom he guaranteed a victory for Romney. Rove continued his "explanation tour" in a recently published op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, blaming Obama's re-election on everything from Hurricane Sandy, to New York Times editors, to hotel employees who may have filmed Romney's infamous 47% comments. The one person he didn't blame in the op-ed was himself. Rove thought he could buy the election this year, but, ultimately, organized people overcame organized money. We should all be proud of this – AND acknowledge that when election time comes around again – Rove and the oligarchs will try even harder and spend even more to win one for the billionaires. Which is why we should amend the Constitution to reverse Citizens United. Movetoamend.org.

According to new election spending data – Tuesday was a good day for women's rights and a bad day for guns. The Sunlight Foundation is reporting that Planned Parenthood political organizations spent 98% of their money this election cycle on winning candidates. On the other hand, NRA political organizations spent just 1% of their money on winning candidates. However, it's not all bad news for the NRA. With another four years of the Obama presidency, right-wing crazies claiming guns will be confiscated will spur a lot more gun sales. Already, gun manufacturers like Smith and Wesson are seeing their stocks soar. On Wednesday, Smith and Wesson saw it's stock shoot up 9.6% - it's biggest gain since early September. Ironically, in reality, President Obama has expanded gun rights during his first-term in office.

There are reports that the notorious manufacturing company Foxconn, known for abusing workers to produce Apple products in China and Taiwan, is looking to open up factories in the United States. At Foxconn factories overseas, workers endure 12-hour shifts in atrocious factory conditions and are forced to live in crowded dorms with fellow co-workers. Workers routinely fall ill from chemicals, and 17 workers have killed themselves over the past five years. Nets are installed around the factory to catch people who jump out of the windows and off the roof. And now Foxconn may be coming to the United States where Americans are desperate for jobs. While we do have better labor standards than developing nations, Republicans are working to scrap protections for workers, and have declared everything from workplace safety laws to minimum wage laws unconstitutional. If they get their way, then America will be the new home to sweatshop labor.

I have heard that you are able to help people find their lost dogs. I have lost my daughter's 5 pound Maltese known as Bella. She escaped around 7 pm Sunday night. She was last seen at the corner of Foxchase Drive and Union Church Road around 9 pm last night. Bella does have a chip. Please call, 410-726-4419 or 410-742-1539

Although an unprecedented amount was spent by outside groups in an effort to influence the 2012 campaign, the candidates with the most super PAC funding were defeated Tuesday. Here's a look at how much outside groups spent per vote in a few of the notable races.More